5 Native Creative Techniques to Speak the Language of TikTok

If you look at the best TikTok ad campaigns, there’s one thing they all do consistently: speak the language of the platform.

TikTokers communicate in a very specific way. You can see this not only in the vernacular being used within videos; but also in the way that they are edited, with certain visuals, sounds, and trends making up a shared language – one that’s constantly evolving. 

If you use TikTok, you know how powerful this language is. How many times have you caught yourself using TikTok phrases in everyday conversation? Or had a trending song/sound live rent-free in your head? 

When it comes to advertising on TikTok, it’s crucial that you understand this language and implement it within your creative. We call this TikTok-native creative. 

By running TikTok-native creative, your ads function as content, adding to the platform experience. This leads to higher levels of engagement. In fact, 32% of awareness impact and 11% of intent impact on TikTok can be attributed to creative having a native look and feel. 

Non-native creative – videos that don’t speak the language of TikTok – on the other hand, function as traditional ads. These videos disrupt the audience’s viewing experience, leading them to quickly swipe past when encountering them in their FYP. The result? Low engagement. 

So, what are the techniques used to produce TikTok-native creative?

This article explores five of the main techniques that we at Shuttlerock use when working with brands to produce TikTok-native creative. Each technique is illustrated by a relevant example produced by Shuttlerock’s design studios. By following these techniques and speaking the language of TikTok, you’ll be able to deliver stronger messages and drive higher performance.

1. Nail the basics first

To produce TikTok-native creative, you first need to nail the basic specifications and best practices. These will help ensure your creative is fit for the platform. 

Here’s a checklist to follow:

• Design your videos to make the most of the vertical screen real estate.

• Keep your copy and key visuals within the designated ‘safe zone’.

• Use a compelling ‘hook’ within the first 6 seconds.

• Feature energetic transitions to retain engagement.

• Drive home messaging with text overlays or captions. 

• Conclude video with a strong, clear CTA. 

After laying these foundations, you can then move onto the techniques that will take your creative from TikTok-fit to TikTok-native.

2. Leverage UGC or creator content

Leveraging user-generated content (UGC) or creator content is a sure-fire way to give your creative a TikTok-native look and feel. 

Both types of content allow you to feature people that look and act in a way that TikTok audiences can relate to. In other words, they are authentic to the platform. As a result, this content helps to build favorability and trust among TikTok audiences – leading to higher performance. For example, creator-led creative leads to a +9% lift in ad recall.

An example of this approach can be seen above from Men’s Wearhouse. For this project, the brand used Shuttlerock’s UGC solution. This end-to-end solution saw the brand first collaborate with Shuttlerock to ideate a creative concept for the campaign. They then found a UGC creator that best suited the concept. The creator then supplied raw UGC footage, which Shuttlerock’s design team edited using TikTok-native techniques. 

The result is a creative concept that effectively packages Men’s Wearhouse’s brand messaging in a video that looks and feels completely native to the platform.

3. Tell your story through native narrative frameworks

Another key technique for producing TikTok-native creative is to adopt native narrative frameworks to tell your story. 

When you scroll down your TikTok FYP, you’ll notice that many of the videos you come across follow certain storytelling formulas. We can call these native narrative frameworks. Some narrative frameworks are tied to trends (e.g. ‘girl math’ and ‘of course’). Other frameworks are evergreen and have become deeply ingrained in the platform (e.g. ‘get ready with me’ and ‘POV’). 

You can understand native narrative frameworks as the grammar behind the language of TikTok. By understanding this and filtering your messaging through these frameworks, your creative will resonate more strongly with TikTok audiences.

Winter outdoor brand Dope, effectively used native narrative frameworks in the example shown above. In the video, they took the ‘fit check’ narrative framework from the streets to the slopes, using it to show off their different snow gear products. 

4. Incorporate native visuals

Along with native narrative frameworks, there are also many visual codes that have been established organically on TikTok. These can be anything from emojis and reply stickers through to editing techniques and transitions. 

In the language of TikTok, if native narrative frameworks give you the ‌grammar, then native visuals provide the visual vocabulary.

The example above from fintech brand, KOHO, illustrates some of the different native visuals that you can incorporate into your creative. The example uses emoji-inspired graphics, native fonts, along with the green screen effect. 

5. Stimulate with sound

While your visuals are always going to take center stage, you shouldn’t forget the power of sound on TikTok. 88% of users state that sound is a crucial part of the TikTok experience. 

There are two main ways that you can use sound to stimulate audience engagement on TikTok. 

The first is to incorporate trending audio or songs. Trends often revolve around specific audio clips or songs; by featuring these sounds, you’re able to tap into the trend and strike a chord with audiences. 

Tip: You can use TikTok’s commercial music library to find/source viral TikTok songs that are pre-cleared for ad usage. 

The second is to use voiceover as both a storytelling tool and a way of driving home your key messaging. Voiceover plays a huge role in how audiences consume organic TikTok content, meaning that brands should adopt this in order to best deliver a native experience. 

A sound technique that blends aspects of both trends and voiceovers, is ASMR. ASMR is a hugely popular content format on TikTok, with the hashtag having more than 30 million related posts. Using ASMR can be an extremely effective technique for brands to consider when producing TikTok-native creative. An example of this can be seen below from ‌pet food brand, The Honest Kitchen. 

Start producing effective TikTok-native creative, with Shuttlerock

As an official TikTok Marketing Partner, Shuttlerock can help you take your TikTok ads to the next level with native creative. To explore how Shuttlerock can support your TikTok efforts, feel free to request a demo of our solution; or get in touch with one of our crew members.